Preview — Dimension of Miracles
by Robert Sheckley

Dimension of Miracles

It had to be somewhere, Carmody knew that much. It was waiting for him, just as he had left it. But where? He only knew he was in the center of a galaxy in a universe of galaxies. Within them lay endless varieties of the planet Earth. And there was only one way to find his Earth again: he would have to visit each one. And he would have to hurry--because his search for homeIt had to be somewhere, Carmody knew that much. It was waiting for him, just as he had left it. But where? He only knew he was in the center of a galaxy in a universe of galaxies. Within them lay endless varieties of the planet Earth. And there was only one way to find his Earth again: he would have to visit each one. And he would have to hurry--because his search for home had turned into a race with death....more

This book is similar to the Hitchhiker's Guide series in construction, and nearly as good, but hardly anyone has heard of it. If you're an HHTG fan who's still in withdrawal following Douglas Adams's untimely departure, consider reading some Sheckley. Mindswap and the short story collections are equally brilliant.

Dimension of Miracles contains a brilliant and haunting idea which I often think about. (view spoiler)[The hero, Thomas Carmody, has been taken from Earth to receive a Prize in the This book is similar to the Hitchhiker's Guide series in construction, and nearly as good, but hardly anyone has heard of it. If you're an HHTG fan who's still in withdrawal following Douglas Adams's untimely departure, consider reading some Sheckley. Mindswap and the short story collections are equally brilliant.

Dimension of Miracles contains a brilliant and haunting idea which I often think about. (view spoiler)[The hero, Thomas Carmody, has been taken from Earth to receive a Prize in the Galactic Sweepstakes. Unfortunately, there's a catch: the rules of the competition don't provide for a return ticket. He has to find his own way back.

It turns out to be harder than he thought. First, there's the comparatively trivial problem of Where, which involves travelling a few tens of thousands of light-years. Once he's located his home planet, he's faced with When, since he also needs to find the right moment in history (he initially lands some time in the late Cretaceous). But the last question, Which, is the hardest one. Of all the many alternate parallel Earths, how can he recognise his own home? And all along, he's being pursued by a fiendish and inexorable enemy, the Predator.

After many adventures, Carmody does finally solve Where, When and Which and returns to the world he came from. But he doesn't like it, and leaves again. He is now doomed to a terrifying existence where he will for ever have to flee the Predator through increasingly unlikely Earths. His companion, the Prize, asks him what he thinks he will do with his life.

Viva la dialecticacacaca! Anyway, on the unitary consciousness and death, here is a very nice excerpt from Robert Sheckley's “Dimension of Miracles”, in which the hero (Carmody) has a chat with a God (Melichrone):

"I abolished them," Melichrone said. "I did away with all life on myplanet, living and otherwise, and I also deleted the Hereafter.Frankly, I needed time to think."

Viva la dialecticacacaca! Anyway, on the unitary consciousness and death, here is a very nice excerpt from Robert Sheckley's “Dimension of Miracles”, in which the hero (Carmody) has a chat with a God (Melichrone):

"I abolished them," Melichrone said. "I did away with all life on myplanet, living and otherwise, and I also deleted the Hereafter.Frankly, I needed time to think."

"Huh," Carmody said, shocked.

"In another sense, though, I didn't destroy anything or anyone,"Melichrone said hastily. "I simply gathered the fragments of myselfback into myself." Melichrone grinned suddenly. "I had quite a numberof wild-eyed fellows who were always talking about attaining a onenesswith Me. They've attained it now, that's for sure!"

"Perhaps they like it that way," Carmody suggested.

"How can they know? Melichrone said. "Oneness with Me means Me; itnecessarily involves loss of the consciousness which examines one'soneness. It is exactly the same as death, though it sounds much nicer."

I am a big fan of both The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Neil Gaiman, so when I saw that this was one of Neil's recommended/produced audiobooks, and that it was very similar to HHGTTG (though it came first), I decided to give it a listen.

And it was... interesting. It was quirky and different, and some parts of it had me giggling, but I didn't like it nearly as much as I'd hoped to. I thought about this book for a full day before writing this review, trying to figure out what I thought abI am a big fan of both The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Neil Gaiman, so when I saw that this was one of Neil's recommended/produced audiobooks, and that it was very similar to HHGTTG (though it came first), I decided to give it a listen.

And it was... interesting. It was quirky and different, and some parts of it had me giggling, but I didn't like it nearly as much as I'd hoped to. I thought about this book for a full day before writing this review, trying to figure out what I thought about it rather than just doing a knee-jerk review (as is my usual style), but I don't think it made a difference, or at least not one in favor of the book. The more I think about it, the more disappointed I am in it.

For one, I think there's just something about British humor (is it "humour" when it's British?) that just does it for me. If I had to put my finger on exactly what it is that makes it so appealing to me, but I think it's the sheer outrageousness combined with a straight-faced "Yeah, I said it. What? You know you want to laugh. Go on, then. Laugh." quality. It's just so dry and almost serious that that in itself makes me laugh because it's so absurd. And that makes me happy. I love it.

Dimension of Miracles is American, which can be funny too, and while it was certainly absurd and quirky, it just didn't strike that funny nerve in me. There were some things that did, like the toddler T-Rex, but on the whole, it just didn't really mesh with my sense of humor. (No "u" this time. I'm American.)

Secondly, DOM is short. Very short. The audio was 5 hours, and the book is around 190 pages, depending on which edition you look at. I felt like it should have been longer, a little more fleshed out, a little more... something. HHGTTG is the trilogy that just won't quit, which gives the story time to grow and fully be something other than just random slideshow pauses.

"...And here's when I visited wrong Which Earth #3. That city was so dull and naggy! Nag nag nagnagnag! Pretty! Yes, pretty, and I could have and do anything I wanted, because I was the only one there, but my goodness was that city controlling. And then I couldn't take the nagging and passive-aggressiveness anymore and I left.

And wrong Which Earth #4 is..."

Dull. That's what it was.

There are quite a lot of similarities to the two stories, like how worlds are created, and the atheistic leaning, and interesting physics and philosophy questions, though again I have to say that I prefer HHGTTG's storyline to DOM's, because, oddly, it seemed more realistic. I found it a little hard to believe that a Galactic Lottery system would be able to select a winner out of billions of possible entities, locate that winner, teleport a messenger to alert the winner, who never even knew the lottery existed, let alone entered, transport said winner back to the Galactic Lottery headquarters for processing (promising that they'd be returned afterward, mind you), award the prize, and then not be able to actually return them because there's a rule against calculating where/when/which coordinates for non-winner-selection purposes. I mean, it's ridiculously bureaucratic enough to be realistic, but I remain unconvinced. Carmody should have asked for a supervisor, and then their supervisor, and so on, until he got his ride home.

But he didn't. And so he tries to find his own way. Or, that's the most succinct way I can think of to say that he's entirely useless and that well-meaning aliens/people/gods/whatever shuttle him around space & time in search of his Earth, repeatedly saving his ass from a Predator that spawned out of the out-of-true nature of the universe because Carmody isn't where he's supposed to be, and will hunt him until he either returns to his proper Earth or is eaten.

Carmody is accompanied throughout space & time by his Prize, which is sentient, rather annoying, and I-still-don't-know-what-it-was-other-than-that. Really. The Prize is the damn catalyst for the story, and I have no idea what it actually was. Why was it worth winning? What is its value? I know its value to Carmody as a companion, now, but what is the value that the Galactic Lottery folks thought that they were giving away? Honestly, if it weren't for the Prize's constantly referred to self-aware prizedom status, I'd swear that the Lottery folks "awarded" away their irritating know-it-all intern just to get him out of their hair or something.

Finally, the ending of the book just really annoyed me. I get it, and I get that it's supposed to be profound and brave, and whatever, but I just can't help thinking that it's pretty damn selfish and entitled, and any small liking that I had for inept and dull Carmody was wiped out with his final decision. (view spoiler)[At this point, Carmody has discovered his Where and When coordinates, and is being assisted in the Which selection by a being who, beyond all reason, wants to help Carmody find his home. He teleports him through alternate Earths, and it's up to Carmody to decide if that's HIS Earth. If not, he just has to say it's the wrong one, and they'll go on down the list. There could be billions, trillions of them, but only after 3 or so Carmody stumbles on the right one... only he doesn't like it anymore. He no longer wants to live that life, and so he pretends that this is another wrong Earth and abandons it. This means two things: 1) That he's prevailing on the time and generosity of a being who owes him nothing at all to continue chauffeuring his ass around the universe in search of a home that Carmody's rejected. Which, of course, extends to the additional responsibility of getting him out of trouble when his Predator shows up and Carmody is too stupid to get himself out of the danger.2) That he doesn't give a shit about his wife, or friends, or job, or commitments or responsibilities, or anything at all. That he's content to let his wife worry and wonder and fear and grieve him when he just decided that he was bored and didn't want to go home anymore is pretty fucking despicable. (hide spoiler)]

So, yeah. I wanted to like this one quite a bit, but that ending ruined it. ...more

“The right to be wrong is fundamental throughout the cosmos.”If there is a mess on earth, the cosmic mess is much messier… And Robert Sheckley was the one to open our eyes:“You provincials are all alike, filled with impossible dreams of order and perfection, which are mere idealized projections of your own incompletion. You should know by now that life is a sloppy affair, that power tends to break things up rather than put things together, and that the greater the intelligence, the higher the de“The right to be wrong is fundamental throughout the cosmos.”If there is a mess on earth, the cosmic mess is much messier… And Robert Sheckley was the one to open our eyes:“You provincials are all alike, filled with impossible dreams of order and perfection, which are mere idealized projections of your own incompletion. You should know by now that life is a sloppy affair, that power tends to break things up rather than put things together, and that the greater the intelligence, the higher the degree of complication which it detects.”And cosmic philosophy is much more profound:“Order is merely a primitive and arbitrary relational grouping of objects in the chaos of the Universe…”And those who play the role of God have their own cosmic theology:“I am doubtless as vain as the next God; but the endless fulsome praise finally bored me to distraction. Why in God’s name should a God be praised if he is only performing his Godly function? You might as well praise an ant for doing his blind antly duties.”And of course galactic bureaucracy acquires a cosmic size so there are mile and miles, well, there are light years of red tape.“The artificial consciousness personalizes me, which is very important in an age of depersonalization,” – this is exactly our modern computerized epoch…...more

The story follows an unlucky schlemiel trying to return home to Earth (and the correct one among an infinity of alternate universe Earths) after unsuspectingly winning the galactic sweepstakes. During the journey he gets a behind the scenes look at the absurd inner workings of the cosmos, the nature of god, reHow is this not more well known? This is like the granddaddy of absurd intergalactic misadventure tales, published over ten years before Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!

The story follows an unlucky schlemiel trying to return home to Earth (and the correct one among an infinity of alternate universe Earths) after unsuspectingly winning the galactic sweepstakes. During the journey he gets a behind the scenes look at the absurd inner workings of the cosmos, the nature of god, reality and everything in between. Most of which he finds somewhat tedious. And all the while is pursued by a deadly predator of sorts. Good sci-fi comedy is hard to pull off, but Sheckley manages a superb job, in what feels like should be an enduring classic.

"It's been one of my favourite books for years, and I remember Douglas Adams telling me how shaken he was to read Dimension of Miracles and watch someone doing something a lot like the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy a decade before he did."...more

Order is merely a primitive and arbitrary relational grouping of objects in the chaos of the Universe.

Absurd in a Hitchhikeresque way, published a decade before The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Absurd and sometimes hilariously funny, sometimes convolutedly philosophical.

Carmody was a quiet man, of a predominantly melancholic humour, with a face that neatly matched the elegiac contours of his disposition. He was somewhat above the average in height and self-deprecation. His posture was bad, Order is merely a primitive and arbitrary relational grouping of objects in the chaos of the Universe.

Absurd in a Hitchhikeresque way, published a decade before The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Absurd and sometimes hilariously funny, sometimes convolutedly philosophical.

Carmody was a quiet man, of a predominantly melancholic humour, with a face that neatly matched the elegiac contours of his disposition. He was somewhat above the average in height and self-deprecation. His posture was bad, but his intentions were good. He had a talent for depression.

Carmody has won a Prize in the Intergalactic Sweepstakes, and is taken to the Galactic Centre to collect it. He then somehow has to get back to Earth, which is no mean feat. And so his adventures and temporal, spatial and philosophical meanderings begin. Earth isn’t where it was when he left; if he gets back comes the question: when does he get back – in his own time or not (not) and of the possible Earths, which is his? Infinite (im)possibilities....more

Dimension of Miracles by Robert Sheckly is the original Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. I mean it is the definitive comedy space opera novel. It follows the interstellar adventures of typical American businessman Tom Carmody after he very surprisingly wins the Intergalactic Sweepstakes. A messenger takes Carmody to the Galactic Center to claim his Prize, but Carmody has no clue how to get back home; the where, when and which of his Earth is required information he lacks. So together with his PDimension of Miracles by Robert Sheckly is the original Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. I mean it is the definitive comedy space opera novel. It follows the interstellar adventures of typical American businessman Tom Carmody after he very surprisingly wins the Intergalactic Sweepstakes. A messenger takes Carmody to the Galactic Center to claim his Prize, but Carmody has no clue how to get back home; the where, when and which of his Earth is required information he lacks. So together with his Prize they seek help getting back to the correct Earth, appealing to Gods, Planet Contractors, and others, all the while pursued by Carmody's personal Predator. The humor can't be done justice in a review, of course, you have to read it for yourself; several parts had me laughing out loud and the rest is an amusing, thougt-provoking page-turner. Here are a few sample quotations:"Very few humans (except the insane ones) accept the premise of insanity in favor of a startling new hypothesis.""Machines! We have many of them, some exquisitely complex. But even the best of them are like idiot savants. They do adequately on tedious straightforward tasks like building stars or destroying planets. But give them something tough, like solacing a window, and they simply go to pieces.""In short, Earth is a diseased place. I blieve it is being phased out of the Galactic Master Plan on the basis of chronic cosmic incompatibility. The place will then be rehabilitated and turned into a refuge for daffodils.""An error exists by virtue of it's consequences, which alone give it resonance and meaning. An error which is not perpetuated cannot be viewed as any error at all. An inconsequential and reversible error is the merest dab of superficial piety. I say, better to commit no error at all than to commit an act of pious hypocricy!""This is what has happened to you, Carmody. You have left your normal habitat, which also means that you have left your normal predators. No automobiles can stalk you here, no virus can creep into your bloodstream, no policeman can shoot you down by mistake.""The rules, doctrines, axioms, laws, and prinicples of science are there to help you, not to hinder you. They're there in order to provide you with reasons for what you do. Most of them are true, more or less, and that helps."...more

Comic science fiction isn't a genre that appeals to me that much, but this was as charmingly dated as a Bradbury story and as fresh and current as an episode of Rick and Morty. I listened to the audiobook, terrifically read by John Hodgman; if anyone would like it, holler at me and I'll Dropbox it to you.

What a spectacular book. I have read Sheckley before, but not this novel. I was in for a real treat. Due to an error, Tom Carmody has won an intergalactic lottery. Please disregard the fact that Carmody had no clue there was any life outside of Earth, let alone they had contests and he was someone an entrant. Carmody takes this news with poise and he collects his Prize after a challenge from another contestant. Oh yeah, the Prize....is sentient.

From here, Carmody goes on an adventure to find thrWhat a spectacular book. I have read Sheckley before, but not this novel. I was in for a real treat. Due to an error, Tom Carmody has won an intergalactic lottery. Please disregard the fact that Carmody had no clue there was any life outside of Earth, let alone they had contests and he was someone an entrant. Carmody takes this news with poise and he collects his Prize after a challenge from another contestant. Oh yeah, the Prize....is sentient.

From here, Carmody goes on an adventure to find three pieces of information about home. He needs to know the Where, the Which, and the When. There are people who hold him up and help in equal measure. He constantly encounters beings who are far more powerful but seem unable to avoid meddling.

Add to this he is being pursued by a predator.

In the end, this is a novel about the peculiarities of life and how it drives all players crazy. I find Carmody's final response to be incredibly sane.

By the way, this book is often cited as Hitchhikers' Guide before there was a Hitchhikers' Guide. If you like Douglas Adams, try this book. One last thing, I listened to the audiobook of this novel. It was introduced by Neil Gaiman and narrated by John Hodgman. Stellar!...more

Before Douglas Adams, there was Robert Sheckley. Before "Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy," there was "Dimension of Miracles."

This is a very strange book to read. Strange not only because the plot is so twisted and weird it's pretty much impossible to tell with a straight face--it involves a lottery ticket that was never purchased, a prize that rivals the Major Award in "Christmas Story," and lots of other things--but the writing...oh my goodness The Writing!

To compare the writing to Douglas Before Douglas Adams, there was Robert Sheckley. Before "Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy," there was "Dimension of Miracles."

This is a very strange book to read. Strange not only because the plot is so twisted and weird it's pretty much impossible to tell with a straight face--it involves a lottery ticket that was never purchased, a prize that rivals the Major Award in "Christmas Story," and lots of other things--but the writing...oh my goodness The Writing!

To compare the writing to Douglas Adams would be a disservice to Sheckley since he came before Adams, but they are definitely of the same cloth. In short, if you enjoyed HHGttG, then you will love DoM. If you didn't, you won't....more

Sheckley's finest. The writing equivalent of stepping in sun-baked gum on hot summer asphalt. The kind of plot even the editorial team of Superman Family would reject. But hey, talking dinosaurs with day jobs and interstellar bureaucracy. Sheckley: wanted by the consistency police for plots against humanity.

Q:Wherever you go in the galaxy, you can find a food business, a house-building business, a war business, a peace business, a governing business, and so forth. And, of course, a God business, which is called 'religion,' and which is a particularly reprehensible line of endeavor. (c)

I picked this up from Audible when I had some cash on my account that was about to expire. It caught my attention, because it was one of the Neil Gaiman Presents selections. I really like Gaiman's work and I figured I would probably also like a book that he recommends. I was right.

Dimension of Miracles was amusing, witty, and well-written. In many ways, it was like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, only it came first. It begins when Tom Carmody is whisked away from his New York apartment upon acI picked this up from Audible when I had some cash on my account that was about to expire. It caught my attention, because it was one of the Neil Gaiman Presents selections. I really like Gaiman's work and I figured I would probably also like a book that he recommends. I was right.

Dimension of Miracles was amusing, witty, and well-written. In many ways, it was like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, only it came first. It begins when Tom Carmody is whisked away from his New York apartment upon accidentally winning the galactic lottery. In his exploits thereafter, he meets a number of strange characters on several interesting worlds as he attempts to return to Earth.

My favorite part was probably when Tom was transported to Earth during the dinosaur age and proceeds to have a very charming conversation with a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

John Hodgman was an excellent choice to narrate this novel. I thought his tone perfectly embodied the author's dry wit.

Overall, the novel was quite enjoyable. The story was light and amusing, but still had some deeper points as well. It won't go down as my all-time favorite, but it was still a fun read that I would recommend to anyone looking for a comedic sci-fi story....more

Absolutely brilliant. Tour de force of masterful absurdity, the treasury of paradoxes, the bliss of irony and humor. I first read Dimension of Miracles some 30 years ago as a teenager and enjoyed it back then, but now I am totally infatuated with it's sheer brilliance. It was written before The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Douglas Adams claimed he read it only after he wrote the Guide, but the similarity of tone and mood is amazing. This may be a dangerous thing to say, but I think thatAbsolutely brilliant. Tour de force of masterful absurdity, the treasury of paradoxes, the bliss of irony and humor. I first read Dimension of Miracles some 30 years ago as a teenager and enjoyed it back then, but now I am totally infatuated with it's sheer brilliance. It was written before The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Douglas Adams claimed he read it only after he wrote the Guide, but the similarity of tone and mood is amazing. This may be a dangerous thing to say, but I think that Dimension of Miracles is deeper and richer beneath the same light tone sparkling with paradoxes and irony it shares with the Guide. It's a short book, but it has multiple dimensions(just like it's title) and is packed with thought provoking delights.

It's a shame that with the exception of the recently released audio book Dimension of Miracles seems to be more easily obtainable and better known in many non-English speaking countries of Europe (France, Russia, Italy, Spain) than in US or UK. ...more

Most reviews of Dimension of Miracles seem to stress the novel's relation to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. While there are similarities, I'm not sure that comparison holds up. Where Hitchhiker's is laugh out loud funny, the humor here is more internally amusing. Where Douglas Adams is scattershot, Robert Sheckley gives a pretty straightforward plot. Adams' pessimism comes across as increasingly angry and cynical as the series goes on. Sheckley's is more sad and resigned.

The two works do comMost reviews of Dimension of Miracles seem to stress the novel's relation to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. While there are similarities, I'm not sure that comparison holds up. Where Hitchhiker's is laugh out loud funny, the humor here is more internally amusing. Where Douglas Adams is scattershot, Robert Sheckley gives a pretty straightforward plot. Adams' pessimism comes across as increasingly angry and cynical as the series goes on. Sheckley's is more sad and resigned.

The two works do complement each other well, but Dimension of Miracles is very much its own experience. That's a good thing to my mind. Robert Sheckley's book is too interesting and thoughtful to be forced to suffer under the weight of undue comparison to Hitchhiker's Guide...more

I listened to the audiobook narrated by John Hodgman and it was wonderful. It was part of a series curated by Neil Gaiman, and he gave a little introduction and did a discussion with Hodgman afterwards. I wish every audiobook had that!

The book itself was delightful... incredibly prescient (especially if you love the Hitchhiker books) and somehow manages to be completely timeless--unlike many older sci-fi books, there is very little that plays as dated or old-fashioned.

Highly recommended for fanI listened to the audiobook narrated by John Hodgman and it was wonderful. It was part of a series curated by Neil Gaiman, and he gave a little introduction and did a discussion with Hodgman afterwards. I wish every audiobook had that!

The book itself was delightful... incredibly prescient (especially if you love the Hitchhiker books) and somehow manages to be completely timeless--unlike many older sci-fi books, there is very little that plays as dated or old-fashioned.

Before Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams, there was Robert Sheckley. As I read “Dimension of Miracles,” I kept thinking that Carmody really needed his bath towel and a little of Rincewind’s creative cowardice. Sheckley was well known in science fiction circles, but he never had the high culture profile of Pratchett or Adams. His wit has more bite than theirs though his style is not as polished. He is well worth a read, and “Dimension” is a good place to start.

This audiobook is part of Neil Gaiman presents, a series of books selected by Neil Gaiman for Audible for which Gaiman selects the narrator.

I can't believe I never discovered Robert Sheckley during the 70's when science fiction was the only genre I ever read. This book has all the elements I most enjoyed about science fiction of that time in which the possibility for out-of-this-world adventure provided the perfect environment for introspection and critically appraising our lives.

Carmody has a visitor appear and award him a prize.... The Galactic Prize, that is. Things get stranger with every turn of the page. My favorite science-fiction writer from my youth and this is my favorite of his books. I think he was the inspiration for Vonnegut's Kilgore Trout and Douglas Adam's acknowledged this short novel as the blueprint for the Hitchhikers Guide books.

I read this long before I ever heard of Douglas Adams, and I find Sheckley to be funnier--- less self-conscious or precious, a bit edgier. This must be long out of print, but it's worth finding. Utterly hilarious.

I've read most of Sheckley's books and short story collections and I believe that the highest density of Sheckley style humor lies between these covers. Maybe onmy rivaled by the his great parable "Journey Beyond Tomorrow".

Billed as the unknown precursor to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, this book was set to be one of the funniest things I’d ever read. And while it was good, smart, occasionally funny, and in the same vein, I didn’t find it to be better. Perhaps I’d indulged in too much hype before reading. Better than average but not among the best books I’ve ever read.

This was a book I really wanted to enjoy. I mean, a comic science-fiction romp through the galaxy that kept getting uniformly compared to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for its absurd humor? I dove right in.

First things first: this book is really not too much like Hitchhiker's. Its plot has a few parallels here and there, and it has the same kind of absurd spirit to its humor. But Dimension of Miracles takes itself extremely seriously. Whereas Hitchhiker's might sprinkle a bit of playful philoThis was a book I really wanted to enjoy. I mean, a comic science-fiction romp through the galaxy that kept getting uniformly compared to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for its absurd humor? I dove right in.

First things first: this book is really not too much like Hitchhiker's. Its plot has a few parallels here and there, and it has the same kind of absurd spirit to its humor. But Dimension of Miracles takes itself extremely seriously. Whereas Hitchhiker's might sprinkle a bit of playful philosophy in to set up a punch line, Miracles is quite set on discussing the philosophical conundrums its protagonist keeps falling into.

The key word there is discuss. This is a book about people talking. And talking. And talking. And I don't mean dialog, because that would imply that one end of the conversation would be more than just "Ah", "Okay", "I see what you mean". The bulk of the book is effectively monologues in which various "wacky" characters lecture the protagonist about how the galaxy really works, and the protagonist doing the conversational equivalent of nodding his head.

And none of this monologuing is really all that funny or interesting. It's like listening to a 60-year-old weird druggie uncle ramble on and on. If you're a philosophy major, maybe you'll get something out of the zany proofs the characters conjure up, but I just wanted something interesting to happen.

Interesting. There's another thing. A book's protagonist should be interesting (exception: if the protagonist is meant to be uninteresting, that uninterestingness itself should be interesting to the reader). The protagonist here is dull as paint. He has no real life or spirit. I feel like Sheckley wrote him as if he thought his character was better-defined than it was. He's supposed to be an everyman, but he occasionally bursts out in remarkably convenient feats of philosophic thought that the text doesn't really express any surprise at (one of these outbursts is later justified, but the other is meant to be a character note, I guess). Neither he, nor any of the other characters, pop off the page.

Ultimately, the book is so full of unfunny gags and poorly set-up scenes that when it starts trying to wrap things up, nothing really has any meaning anymore. Every once in awhile, Sheckley comes up with a funny premise. These moments are clear, because he wastes no time running these premises precociously into the ground.

The book's conclusion should have been touching and significant. But so much absurdity has happened to that point that as a reader, I had nothing to ground myself in. It was like someone telling a joke but messing up the punchline and asking me to laugh anyway.

The audiobook is read by John Hodgman, who does what he can to liven up the characters. His presence adds an element of (and I hate to use this word) hipsterdom - that we're supposed to like this book because it's not widely known, and therefore cool. Hodgman, who has built a career out of playing a character who is smarter than you, enhances this notion. I can't help thinking of him reading my review, clucking his tongue, and saying, "Man, you just don't get it.". No, I guess I don't....more

I don't have time to list all the things that were bad about both this novel and this performance of it. But please -- for the love of all that is good -- don't believe *anyone* who claims that this book *remotely* resembles, foreshadows, or is otherwise anything at all like Douglas Adams' _Hitchhiker's_ series, even the horrid and insulting 5th book in the "trilogy".

This book is so steeped in the smug, clueless dark narcissism of '60s scifi that it beggars the imagination how a brilliant writerI don't have time to list all the things that were bad about both this novel and this performance of it. But please -- for the love of all that is good -- don't believe *anyone* who claims that this book *remotely* resembles, foreshadows, or is otherwise anything at all like Douglas Adams' _Hitchhiker's_ series, even the horrid and insulting 5th book in the "trilogy".

This book is so steeped in the smug, clueless dark narcissism of '60s scifi that it beggars the imagination how a brilliant writer like Neil Gaiman could even get *through* it, much less praise it. It's a terrible, boring, vapid, predictable, soggy, and ridiculous pastiche of attempts at satire. It's terrible.

But OK. Lots of books are bad. But this performance of it is particularly awful, as Hodgman butchers it in ways both unspeakable and uncountable. I literally lost count of the number of times Hodgman's vocal inflection were precisely the opposite of what the book described. Hodgman not only ignores the verbs describing the character's voice ("he shrieked", "he whispered", "he shouted"), but he does them in ways that make exactly no sense at all in the context. It's as though he is reading a language not native to him. I'm amazed that he could be so bad.

I genuinely wanted to like this book. It's simply not possible. I beg of you: save yourself the hours you will never get back listening to Hodgman's mangling of what was already a fairly irredeemable mess....more

A bemused innocent, cast adrift in a vast and unnecessarily bureaucratic universe, struggling to find his way home. A man who builds planets. So many of the elements Douglas Adams took and made something special out of. So why isn't Dimension of Miracles better known?

It might be the writing. Adams may have written science fiction, but he was steeped in an English tradition that included his hero P G Wodehouse. Adams learnt how to turn a phrase: find all the bits of the Hitch-hikers series that hA bemused innocent, cast adrift in a vast and unnecessarily bureaucratic universe, struggling to find his way home. A man who builds planets. So many of the elements Douglas Adams took and made something special out of. So why isn't Dimension of Miracles better known?

It might be the writing. Adams may have written science fiction, but he was steeped in an English tradition that included his hero P G Wodehouse. Adams learnt how to turn a phrase: find all the bits of the Hitch-hikers series that have been quoted, stitch them together, and you've pretty much got the Hitch-hikers series. The bits of it that are worth reading, anyway. Not that awful last one.

Robert Sheckley is not quite (at all) as quotable. There's so much unnecessary, stilted verbiage. His characters love to pontificate. How can Carmody spout such nonsense about his new and overwhelming situation? He was a philosophy major. Of course. It doesn't help. So much of his theorising is just unreadable. Sheckley deals out a series of funny situations and set-ups, but fails to develop them; fails to extract any real value from them beyone the original idea. Maybe that's why the book is so short. And that is its one redeeming feature....more

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One of science fiction's great humorists, Sheckley was a prolific short story writer beginning in 1952 with titles including "Specialist", "Pilgrimage to Earth", "Warm", "The Prize of Peril", and "Seventh Victim", collected in volumes from Untouched by Human Hands (1954) to Is That What People Do? (1984) and a five-volume set of Collected Stories (1991). His first novel, Immortality, Inc. (1958), One of science fiction's great humorists, Sheckley was a prolific short story writer beginning in 1952 with titles including "Specialist", "Pilgrimage to Earth", "Warm", "The Prize of Peril", and "Seventh Victim", collected in volumes from Untouched by Human Hands (1954) to Is That What People Do? (1984) and a five-volume set of Collected Stories (1991). His first novel, Immortality, Inc. (1958), was followed by The Status Civilization (1960), Journey Beyond Tomorrow (1962), Mindswap (1966), and several others. Sheckley served as fiction editor for Omni magazine from January 1980 through September 1981, and was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2001. ...more

“Wherever you go in the galaxy, you can find a food business, a house-building business, a war business, a peace business, a governing business, and so forth. And, of course, a God business, which is called 'religion,' and which is a particularly reprehensible line of endeavor. ”
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“It's the deep, fundamental bedrock of hypocrisy upon which religion is founded. Consider: no creature can be said to worship if it does not possess free will. Free will, however, is FREE. And just by virtue of being free, is intractable and incalculable, a truly Godlike gift, the faculty that makes a state of freedom possible. To exist in a state of freedom is a wild, strange thing, and was clearly intended as such. But what to the religions do with this? They say, "Very well, you possess free will; but now you must use your free will to enslave yourself to God and to us." The effrontery of it! God, who would not coerce a fly, is painted as a supreme slavemaster! In the fact of this, any creature with spirit must rebel, must serve God entirely of his own will and volition, or must not serve him at all, thus remaining true to himself and to the faculties God has given him.”
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